The First Picture Shows Reception and Tour

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 1, 2012
Contact: Kanya Lyons | (512) 974-7379

Join the Austin History Center and the Austin History Center Association for a special exhibit reception for The First Picture Shows: Historic Austin Movie Houses and a Behind the Scenes Tour of the Paramount and State Theaters on Saturday, June 16 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. starting at the Austin History Center, 810 Guadalupe St.

Beginning at 11:00 a.m. there will be an open house viewing of the exhibit with curators on hand to answer questions and provide background information. The Austin History Center Association will provide light refreshments. During the open house, local musician Tim Mueting will perform acoustical Americana music, including his song “Drive-In Picture Show.”

At 11:45 a.m., the group will walk to the Paramount for a Behind the Scenes tour of the historic Paramount and State Theaters. On the tour you will learn how productions are staged, view the projection booth and equipment and see parts of the theaters that are usually closed to the public. Paramount staff will lead the tour. When the tour is over, attendees are invited to stay and watch the Saturday matinee “The Awful Truth.” Normal admission ticket prices apply. The box office opens at 1:00 p.m. Tour spots are limited, so please RSVP at ahc_reference@ci.austin.tx.us.

The exhibit, reception and tour are free and open to the public. For more information please call 512-974-7480 or visit library.austintexas.gov.

About the Exhibit
Movies have entertained and enlightened us for over a century. Just as important as the films themselves, the spaces where we experience them has a major impact on how these motion pictures impact our lives. The Austin History Center’s new exhibit, The First Picture Shows: Historic Austin Movie Houses, explores the many film venues throughout Austin’s history, from the first motion picture screening in 1896 to the rise of the multiplexes.

Through hundreds of historic photographs, documents, and architectural drawings, the exhibit showcases the early Nickelodeons and storefront theaters that sprang up along Congress and 6^th Streets, the grand movie palaces designed to provide moviegoers a lavish environment, and the dozens of movie houses that cropped up around town to provide ample space for the hundreds of films produced during Hollywood’s golden age. Visitors will also learn the fate of most of these movie houses, the ones that continue on as theaters as well as those that have found new life as drugstores, coffee houses, or comedy clubs. The exhibit will include the AHC’s very own modern “Kinetoscope” to transport visitors back in time to experience motion pictures as they were first made available over 100 years ago.

The exhibit is on display from March 20 until August 19, 2012 at the Austin History Center, 810 Guadalupe St.